The Vampire Diaries Review: The Old College Die

Indeed, "I Know What You Did Last Summer" took Caroline, Elena and millions of fans to Whitmore College, a university where the only thing more dangerous than the dining hall lunch is being roommates with two secret blood suckers.

What do we make of Megan's demise? How awesome is Paul Wesley as Silas? How hilarious will Jeremy and Damon be as roommates?

With the countdown to TVD's return finally over, let's answer all these questions and pose many more in the following countup. Come along and join me, won't you? I promise it'll be safer than a Mystic Falls town square celebration...

ONE: The number of threesomes depicted in the episode's opening few minutes. Damn, Matt! You go, boy!

Of course, there may truly be no such thing as safe sex, not when it involves a mysterious European woman named Nadia who then shows back up in Mystic Falls to return your magic ring and help knock you out because... who the heck knows why?!? But isn't it refreshing to see Matt get some action? Both of the screen variety and the HAWT bedroom variety?

TWO: The number of deaths on the premiere. Yes, Mayor Bennett's was more emotional, as it's hard enough to imagine losing one's father and even harder still to imagine losing one's father when you're a ghost and no one can hear you scream or be a shoulder for you to cry on. But we barely knew the Mayor himself. His arrival was almost comical, with Bonnie's dad just showing up out of nowhere and somehow being elected to high office.

So it's Megan's death that is truly most interesting. Why was there Vervain in her water bottle? Did her killer put it there? Did she put it there? And who is her killer? And is the campus police covering up the murder? And how in the world is Elena's father tangled up in all of this? Lots of questions. Lots of place for this storyline to go.

THREE: The number of months that went by since events on The Vampire Diaries Season 4 finale in May went down. Stefan is still stuck under water (and help me on this one, TVD Fanatics: Is Damon subconsciously encouraging him to turn off his humanity so he can escape? Or just so he can stop feeling pain down there?)... we know where Matt spent his time (ooohhh, yeah!)... Bonnie was supposedly traveling the world (and pretending to still exist, via emails through Jeremy)... and Delena?

They have been going very, very, very, VERY strong. We're talking sex-all-throughout-the-house and dropping the L Word to each other strong. Is it everything you ever wanted and more, Delena fans? Let's just hope the writers keep these two together. There's been enough back and forth in the past. No more wavering over Stefan and no new college upperclassman to steal away Elena's attention, please. She has enough to worry about at Whitmore with that whole my-roommate-was-murdered thing going on.

And also Psych 101. That class can be tough.

SEVENTEEN: The number of small appliances Caroline can apparently fit into the world's biggest dorm room. My goodness! And I thought the kids on Saved By the Bell: The College Years had it lucky.

FIVE: The number of times I marveled at Wesley's depiction of Silas. Approximately. The actor has said many times in the past - including to TV Fanatic - that he embraces a chance to play a darker role and it really is clear by the way he oozes charisma and shadiness as Silas. You can just see a satisfied glint in the star's eye that he's getting a break from playing his typically moral, upstanding character of Stefan Salvatore.

SIX: The number of questions I have coming out of a strong premiere:

When will we see Tyler again? And what has he really been up to out there?

What's the deal with Jesse? Anything aside from having an (understandable) attraction to Caroline?

Why is Silas seeking out Katherine?

How are the chores doled out in Casa Salvatore now? Does Jeremy take out the garbage and Damon do the dishes?

How did Elena's father know Megan and what is Mr. Gilbert's connection to her death?

Seriously, what does Nadia want?!?

Overall, a very entertaining opening episode. The Vampire Diaries Season 5 has a fresh feel to it, with plenty of new territory to mine at Whitmore, Delena as a certified couple and Silas as a fun, threatening villain.

What did everyone else think? Make like a college professor and grade the premiere now:

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What a great episode!Julie sure did not waste anytime getting into things.Stefan/Silas killed Mayor Bennett. Elena and Caroline's new roommate Megan was killed. Silas revealed himself to Sheriff Forbes and Jeremy knew it was him right away. Katherine and Jeremy get into a car accident that almost kills Jeremy and then something happens to Matt.Does Kath forget she is human, she can not just walk away from a car crash with tons of injuries anymore, she can not heal herself.So many great storylines and I can not wait until next week!

Herewego•October 04, 2013 14:20

Damon in nothing but a towel!!!! Delena ... Everywhere! I loved episode 1 and I'm already interested in the new storylines. And delena...oh delena!

christianna•October 04, 2013 14:07

I really liked it.There was something new and fresh about this premiere - I didn't even miss Klaus.Definitely loved watching Damon and Jeremy being buddies, but at the same time my heart ached for poor Stefan, always suffering.It was also fun to see Elena being her normal self without crying all the time, although that's going to change soon I guess.

Loved this Premier! It did feel like Season 1 all over again with everyone being happy for a change! Loved seeing Katherine, Nina is amazing, perfect balance between rattled, paranoid, hilarious, pathetic but still lovable! I think Silas needs her blood for either the cure or some ritual related to the other side..

the best part of this episode was Rebecca getting her Mac on with that other girl :) Candice Accola is aging very nicely, she get sexier every season. unfortunately the same cannot be said for Nina. she looked really wrinkly today.

So glad the show is back I've really missed it. I think Silas wants Katherine because she took the cure and for him to do whatever he wanted with it he now needs her for something. I am loving Delena they are so happy and they seem so right together I hope they stay together for awhile. I loved the part where there were making out and Jeremy walked in Elena said I thought you left and he was like I did 5 hours ago I thought that was prett funny. Megan seemed very interesting to me and I thought I might like her but now she's dead so I'll never know but she's still very interesting to me. Jesse seems like an interesting character and I wonder what Caroline's going to do with him. I can't believe Bonnie's dad is dead I don't really care because we didn't know him that well but it was just so shocking. I can't wait till the next episode it looks really good again I'm so glad to have the show back this season should be amazing I can't wait to see the rest of it.

That pit is called guilt. You feel terrible because you broke Stefan's heart. And that nagging feeling is your brain waking up to tell you that you've made a horrible, yet completely reversible, mistake.